Door for refrigerator-cars



{No Modgl.)

M. J. LA FLARE.

DOOR FOR REFRIGERATOR CARS.

No. 562,001. Patented June 16, 1896.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MYRON JJLA FLARE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

DOOR FOR REFRIGERATOR-CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 562,001, dated June 16, 1896. Application filed May 15, 1893. Serial No. 474,372. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MYRON J. LA FLAREJL citizen .of the United States, residing in Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Doors for Refrigerator-Cars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in refrigeratoi ear doors, and more particularly to improvements in the means of packing the meeting edges or surfaces of the doors and of the doors and jamb or surrounding stationary wall.

The object of my invention is to provide refrigerator-car or other refrigerator doors with an efficient and durable packing of a cheapand simple construction which will at all times make a tight and perfect joint and at the same time permit the doors to be easily opened, and which will not be liable to be indented or distorted out of shape.

To this end my invention consists, in connection with a refrigerator-car door and its jamb or surrounding wall, of a packing for the meeting edges of the doors or of the door and jamb, composed in part of a spring-supported rigid strip, preferably of wood, furnished with a yielding cushion composed, preferably, of felt, hair, or other like yielding material held in place by a strip of canvas or other flexible fabric. The spring-supported rigid strip is mounted in a marginal recess formed in the meeting edges of the door and -jamb, and preferably in the jamb or wall surrounding the door.

My invention also consists in the novel devices and novel combinations of parts and devices herein shown and described, and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, and in which similar letters of reference indicate like parts, Figure I is a side elevation of a refrigeratorcar embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. at is a partial horizontal section illustrating a modification. Figs. 2 and 3 are enlarged views, and intermediate portions of the door are broken away.v

In the drawings, A represents the body of a refrigerator-car.

B B are hinged doors, and C 0 represent the wall of the door-frame surrounding the door, the vertical upright portions of this wall being more properly termed the jamb, the horizontal lower portion the door-'sill,and the horizontal upper portion the lintel but as my invention is equally applicable to the entire surrounding Wall of the door I desig nate the whole or any portion thereof as the surrounding wall of the door-frame D is a recess formed in part in the surrounding wall 0 of the door-frame and in 'part in the meeting edge B of the doors, and in which fit the rigid spring-supported packing-strips F F F F F, formed, preferably, of wood. The rigid packingstrips F are yieldingly supported by a series of springs f, the same being preferably coiled springs; but flat or other springs maybe used,if preferred. The springs f fit in suitable pockets f, formed in the surrounding wall of the door-frame or in the meeting face B of the doors. The meeting face of the rigid spring-supported packingstrip F is furnished with a cushion or packing f of felt, hair, or other like yielding material, the same being secured in place in the recess D by a strip of canvas or other flexible material G, nailed or otherwise secured across the recess D. At the vertical meeting faces of the two doors B B the recess D andfspringsupported cushion-faced packing strip F is formed in the beveled edge or face of one of the doors, as is clearly indicated in the drawings. The recess D is preferably formed in the door-frame or surrounding wall 0 of the door, except at the sill portion of such surrounding wall, where the recess D is preferably formed in the bottom edge or face of the doors B B, as the spring-supported packingstrip, if mounted in the sill, might be liable to injury in moving heavy freight in or out.

By reason of my spring-supported cushion faced rigid packing for refrigerator-car or other refrigerator doors I am enabled at all times to secure a practically air-tight joint between the meeting faces of the door or jamb, while at the same time the doors may be read ily opened, and the packing is'not only made perfectly tight, but is also Very durable, as the wear is very slight, and all difficulty from the door swelling and becoming too tight to be practically opened or closed or of shrinking and becoming too loose to make a tight joint is entirely obviated.

In the modification illustrated in Fig. 4 the vertical meeting faces of the two doors B B are rabbeted or offset; but the preferable construction is that indicated in Fig. 2.

I claim 1. The packing for a door consisting of a rigid strip faced with a yielding material, springs at the back of said strip, said strip and springs being located in a recess at the meeting edges of the door or jamb and a strip of canvas or other like flexible material coverin g over said recess, substantially as specified.

2. In a refrigerator-car the combination with the doors B B having the marginal recess D formed in their lower edges and a rigid spring-supported packing-strip F mounted in said recess, and furnished with a cushion f secured in place bya strip of canvas or flexible material G, substantially as specified.

3. In a refrigerator-car, the combination with the door, of a packing comprising a rigid strip faced with a yielding material, a spring or springs at the back of said strip, said strip and spring or springs being located in a rccess in the door or surrounding frame, and a strip of canvas or other flexible material coverin g over said recess, substantially as specified.

4. The refrigerator-car doors 1% 13 having beveled Vertical meeting faces or edges l5 B, one of said doors being provided with a marginal recess D, a rigid spring-supported packing-strip F mounted in said recess and provided with a cushion-face f of yielding material and a canvas strip G secured across the face of said recess D, substantially as specifled.

MYRON J. LA FLARE.

Witnesses:

EMMA HACK, II. M. hlUNDAY. 

